Third fits Mueller like a glove

Published 4:00 am, Monday, June 23, 1997

The question was treated as sacrilege in the Giants' clubhouse, which is fair, because Matt Williams is a four-time All-Star and one of the greatest players in team history. But the question was fair as well.

Is Bill Mueller as good a defensive third baseman as Williams?

"You can't compare them," pitcher Mark Gardner said.

"He's making the plays Matt Williams made, but Matty has 10 years under his belt. Bill has maybe one year plus. When you look at Matt Williams you're looking at consistency over the years. Bill is making the same plays. If he makes them five or six years in a row, then you can compare."

The reasoning behind the question was obvious to anyone in America who watched the Giants earn a four-game split against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 4-2 victory in the Sunday night ESPN game.

Although Barry Bonds made the most noise by hitting his 16th home run, and Kirk Rueter earned the yeoman's award for his five-hit pitching over seven innings, Mueller made the play of the game in front of 36,749 at the 'Stick.

With the score tied 2-2 in the fifth inning after pitcher Chan Ho Park's surprising RBI double into the right-field corner, Brett Butler hit a low missile up the third-base line. Mueller, who was playing in on the grass, instinctively dived and backhanded the ball on the fly to end the inning. Had the ball gone through, the Dodgers would have had a two-run lead.

Millions of viewers who learned for the first time that Mueller pronounces his name Miller were probably asking the same question: Where'd he come from? But Mueller has made plenty of plays like that all season, consistently, and with his typical aw-shucks modesty he waved off the importance of performing the way he did in such a high-visibility game.

"The big thing about being on national TV is being able to play in front of all my buddies back home, not just to showcase myself," he said, "so all the people I grew up with back in St. Louis are able to watch me."

Butler said he thought he had a two-run hit.

"I haven't had a clutch one in a while, so it would have been nice. It would have made a big difference in the game," Butler said. Since he hasn't played with Williams for years, Butler didn't flinch at the comparison question. He said Mueller's "tenacity, his hardness, the way he plays the game" remind him of Williams.

As a complete player, there is no comparison. Despite his current slump in Cleveland, Williams is a power hitter capable of turning a big deficit into a lead with one swing of the bat, one of the few players in the game who instills real fear into the opposing pitcher.

The 26-year-old Mueller is a singles hitter who relies on making contact and seeing what happens. He's batting .271 and didn't have a big-league homer until the two he's hit this month.

Mueller platoons at third with Mark Lewis, who is more capable of driving the ball. But Mueller is a better defensive third baseman, and manager Dusty Baker likes to play him when the Giants have a ground-ball pitcher on the mound.

Mueller didn't duck when posed with the Williams question.

"I think I'm striving to be like him, but that can only be proven over time," he said. "I can't say anything like that after, what, 80 days in the big leagues? It has to be looked at after five or six years."

Dodgers manager Bill Russell said when he saw Mueller's play he thought he was watching Graig Nettles, the Yankees third baseman who foiled the Dodgers in the 1977 and '78 World Series with great glove work. Even though Mueller was barely a grade-schooler then, he has memories of Nettles.

"When I grew up, Graig Nettles was one of the guys you'd see diving all over the field," he said. "For some reason I'm able to remember him. I always liked his style, his approach to defense."

Besides the Butler play, the folks back in St. Louis also got to see Mueller ground a single into right field for an insurance run in the seventh, after the Giants had gone ahead 3-2 on a walk to J.T. Snow, a perfect hit-and-run single by Rich Aurilia and a soft pinch-hit grounder by Lewis that Eric Karros bobbled for an error.

Mueller tried to stretch his single into a double when left fielder Billy Ashley kicked the ball a few feet to his left, but Ashley recovered and nailed Mueller easily.

"Mueller played a great game today, defensively and offensively," Baker said. "The only mistake he made was going to second with Stan Javier coming up - the hottest hitter in the world right now. Between (Mueller) and Lewis, they're both playing very well, and the good thing is we know they've got a lot left. They both can do a lot more." &lt;